Qt Documentation

All Modules

Qt Essentials

Qt essentials define the foundation of Qt on all platforms. They are available on all supported development platforms and on the tested target platforms. They will remain source and binary compatible during Qt 5.

Essential modules are general and useful for a majority of Qt applications. A module that is used for a special purpose is considered an add-on module even if it is available on all supported platforms.

If you use qmake to build your projects, the Qt Core and Qt GUI modules are included by default. To link only against Qt Core, add the following line to your .pro file:

QT -= gui

On Windows, if you do not use qmake or other build tools such as CMake, you also need to link against the qtmain library.

Qt Add-Ons

Qt Add-On modules bring additional value for specific purposes. These modules may only be available on some development platform. Many add-on modules are either feature-complete and exist for backwards compatibility, or are only applicable to certain platforms. Each add-on module specifies its compatibility promise separately.

The Qt installers include the option of downloading the add-ons. For more information, visit the Getting Started with Qt page.

Value-Add Modules

In addition to the modules released as part of Qt 5, the following modules and tooling build on top of the Qt libraries to provide additional value. They have their own release schedule, and are available under different Qt licenses. See the Downloads page for more information.